10/04/2012

It took only two minutes. An unfounded report on a little-known blog claiming that Gov. Nikki R. Haley was about to be indicted rocketed from South Carolina political circles into national circulation, along the way becoming the latest lesson in the perils of an instantaneous news culture.

But journalists from news outlets that reposted Mr. Smith’s report on Twitter — including establishments old and venerable (The Washington Post, CBS News) as well as new and widely read (The Huffington Post and BuzzFeed) — had no way of knowing that in the minutes after it went online, and did not stop to check first.

“I don’t claim to be a journalist,” Mr. Arrington said, though he breaks news and writes prolifically. “I hold myself to higher standards of transparency and disclosure.” He argues that his investments would produce less of a conflict of interest than the other conflicts that all journalists have as human beings, because their thoughts are shaped by friendships, romances and personal opinions. “Friendships and marriage are far more potent than financial conflicts,” he said.

Hoft’s jab, anyway, magnifies two of the worst problems with political debate in America. First is pundits’ tendency to make literally everything into a partisan matter. If people are reading about it, they need to read about how the other guy is somehow implicated. Second is that, so often, the president’s critics — on left and right — commentate as though Obama has some sort of magic button available for use at his sole discretion that can fix the economy, lower gas prices, instantly vaporize Moammar Gaddafi, rig congressional votes and, perhaps, prevent earthquakes — if only the president weren’t too busy doing other things to use it!

We write articles for many reasons: because the form demands it, because we want the bylines and ego gratification, because we are competitive, because we had to. Now we should write articles when necessary. This new structure changes not only the skills but likely the character of the journalist. These days when I see young journalists talk only about their passion to write and tell stories, I worry for them that they will find fewer jobs and less of a calling. But when I hear journalists say that their passion is to report, to dig up facts, to serve and inform the community by all means possible, I feel better. When I hear a journalist talk about collaboration with that community as the highest art, then I get happy. Let the record show that I am not declaring the article useless or dead. Just optional.

The Foreign Press Association estimated that as many as 3,000 journalists would cover the wedding for non-UK media outlets. “Foreign media care because the royal wedding is the perfect storm,” said Christopher Wyld, FPA director. “It is a combination of the best reality television, the best soap opera and there is real history on top of that.” More than 100 foreign photographers have applied for accreditation outside Westminster Abbey, where the marriage will take place, and along the route between the abbey and Buckingham Palace. Television and radio broadcasters have built 48 studios for the event.

If you’re Kerry, then, Huffpo and the Times pay exactly the same: diddly-squat. If you’re someone who writes for a living, on the other hand, the Times offers the better deal, even if the dollar amount involved is modest. The trade-off is that, while Huffpo bloggers can cross-post their work on other sites and republish it as they please, the Times wants to own what it publishes.

26/03/2011

In only a few years, these young men and others like them have become part of the journalistic establishment in Washington. Once they lived in groups in squalid homes and stayed out late, reading comic books in between posts as more seasoned reporters slogged their way through traditional publications like “The Hill” and “Roll Call.” Now the members of this “Juicebox Mafia,” as they were first called by Eli Lake of The Washington Times, in a reference to youth, have become destination reading for — and respected by — the city’s power elite. Indeed, arguably they are themselves approaching power-elite status (as well as, gasp, age 30).

28/02/2011

The investment, which is expected to value Twitter at more than $4 billion, will be made from the bank's new $1.2 billion digital growth fund, these people said. Exact terms of the potential deal couldn't be learned. Discussions between J.P. Morgan and Twitter are continuing, and there is no guarantee a deal will be struck, the people added.